The gathering of BRICS country leaders in Johannesburg last week depicted China’s efforts in establishing a fresh global arrangement through their united photo session.
At the front and center was Xi Jinping, the strong leader of China. He stood on a stage with leaders from developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The summit was the biggest meeting ever for the BRICS countries. More than 60 countries came to the meeting, including the member nations Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Next to the BRICS leaders, there were also leaders from Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, who were recently invited to join the club.
This is a big win for Xi, who wanted to make the group bigger and more influential. Even though some members like India and Brazil had doubts, he was able to make it happen.
The group is getting bigger and it will have more than twice as many members as before. This will make the group have a bigger influence around the world, especially in the Middle East.
“China is the obvious winner,” said Steve Tsang, who is the director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. “Adding six new members is a big step in the way it wants to go. ”
Beijing and Moscow want to expand their economic group to be a powerful force against the West and Western organizations like the G7.
That goal has become more important in the past year because China and the United States are in a growing rivalry, and the Ukraine war has also caused China to become more distant from the Western countries because of its support for Moscow.
The BRICS expansion and the long waiting list to join show that many countries in the Global South are interested in Xi’s offer of a different world order. These countries feel left out in the current international system, which they believe is controlled by the US and its wealthy allies.
The BRICS leaders want emerging markets and developing countries to have more power and influence in international organizations like the United Nations, the IMF, and the World Bank.
Xi, who criticized the dominance of the US in his speeches at the summit, expressed positive feelings about the expansion, calling it a significant moment and the beginning of a new phase for cooperation among BRICS countries.
Happymon Jacob, a professor who studies international affairs at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said that the expansion shows a change in global political borders.
He said that if China becomes a leader in non-Western forums and the Global South, they will be able to challenge the US and the world order that is controlled by the US.
BRICS group, which consists of five countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), has invited six other nations, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, to become members.
However, if more countries join BRICS, it may become less unified and less organized. This is because the current members of BRICS already have significant differences in their political systems, economic strength, and diplomatic objectives.
“I have doubts about how well the organization will work after it expands, and whether the expansion will actually make a significant impact,” said Yun Sun, who leads the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington.
The bigger the group, the more different interests the organization has to deal with and make everyone happy.
This is especially true for a group like BRICS, where decisions are only made if everyone agrees.
The new employees are a slightly different and varied group. There are two economies that are facing a lot of difficulties. Argentina has a history of not being able to pay back its debts and has faced problems with high prices and money issues. It borrows the most money from the IMF. Egypt has financial problems of its own, and it owes a lot of money to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is an organization that provides financial assistance to countries.
Ethiopia, a country in Africa with a lot of people, used to have a strong economy but is now suffering a lot because of a civil war that happened in the Tigray region. The war lasted for two years and ended in December. During the war, many people’s rights were violated.
The bigger group will also have three of the biggest countries that sell a lot of oil: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran.
In simpler words, both countries used to be very close friends with America, but now they are getting even closer to China. China has been increasing its presence in the area because it seems like the US isn’t as involved anymore.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are enemies who have been fighting each other for a long time. However, this year they made an agreement with the help of China to start talking to each other again.
This is very different from a more united group like the G7, which is made up of democracies that think similarly and have big developed economies.
Helena Legarda, a top analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, said it is not clear how much the BRICS expansion will raise the worth and power of the group.
If BRICS doesn’t have a common belief and a clear main objective, it is possible that adding six new members will make the group more split or divided.
One big issue is that China and Russia are against the United States, and now Iran has joined them, making their agenda even stronger.
India and Brazil are worried that the bloc could become too against the West and controlled by China. Some of the new members may also have doubts about this.
Even though China has specific goals for the group, many other developing and emerging economies do not view BRICS as only about politics. She said that they are also driven by the chance to make money and get special advantages in the Chinese and other markets.
However, China is currently facing economic difficulties within its own country. These difficulties include a worsening situation with their real estate market, increasing debt among local governments, a high number of unemployed young people, and a population that is growing older. A lot of economists think that the world’s second largest economy is going to start growing much more slowly. This could have a big effect on the economy of the whole world.
The BRICS expansion may cause more competition and disagreements between China and India. China and India already have strained relations due to an ongoing border conflict.
Jacob in New Delhi said that the competition between China and India for leadership of the Global South is going to intensify even more, with China having a clear advantage.
India has good relationships with the new BRICS members. However, China has lots of money and power which allows them to have more influence in the Middle East and in the institution compared to India.
Sun, from the Stimson Center, said that because of the rivalry and tensions between China and India, as well as between Iran and Saudi Arabia, there will not be many important issues that they can agree on and work together on.
The expansion gives the impression that there is a larger group of countries working together against the West, but just having more countries in the group does not necessarily mean they will be more effective.